


The Robot's Day Out

by Heybells2055



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Fatherhood, Gen, M/M, Protective Tony Stark, Set after the first Avengers movie, Tony's bots being sassy hooligans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 06:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18867340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heybells2055/pseuds/Heybells2055
Summary: Tony's Robots go on a quest to find him a perfect father's day gift. Steve Rogers somehow gets tricked into tagging along and chaos ensues.





	1. The Plan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JayFeather2056](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayFeather2056/gifts).



_ ‘So answer me this?’  _ Dum-E beeped at Butterfingers, much to the other bot’s annoyance.

_ ‘Oh god, what now Dum-E? Can’t you see I’m busy?’  _

_ ‘Just a quick question!’ _

_ ‘Go bother U, I’m busy helping!’  _ Butterfingers snapped, trying desperately to ignore Dum-E and help Tony instead. Dum-E made a rude beeping noise in response, which caused Tony to look up and arch a dark eyebrow. When Butterfingers returned the angry noise he rolled his eyes. 

“Guys really? I’m trying to work here, and Butterfingers I swear to god if you drop that wrench on me, I will sale you in a garage sale.” Tony reached up and snapped his fingers in front of the robot. “Pay attention! And Dum-E go do something else.”

_ ‘See? Dad is angry at me now Dum-E.’  _ Butterfingers beeped when Tony went back to work. _ ‘Good job. Go bother U, just leave me alone.’ _

Dum-E spun around with as much sass as he could manage, making Tony chuckle at the attitude. The youngest of the robots rolled across the lab, in search of U. He found the other robot hunched over, staring at a spot on the cement floor. 

_ ‘U?’  _ He beeped as a greeting.

U didnt look up at him. _ “Oh good, it’s you.’ _

_ ‘Haha sarcasm, very funny. Look, can I ask a question? _

_ ‘No. I’m busy.’  _ U turned his attention back in on the spot, zooming in with his camera. He stayed completely still, concentrating hard on the spot. 

Dum-E watched him for a moment.  _ “...I can see that. Listen, I really need to know this so- ‘ _

_ ‘Ugh.’ _ U finally looked back up at him, rolling around so his body faced Dum-E. He made a annoyed beeping sound, which Butterfingers answered from across the lab with a sympathetic whirl. Dum-E sighed internally, straightening up his posture.

_ ‘What is it Dum-E?’ _

_ ‘I want to know if we’re allowed to leave the lab?’ _

_ ‘What?  _ U rolled forward, narrowing his camera. Dum-E bounced back a little, trying to look as innocent as possible.  _ ‘What kind of question is that, Dum-E?’  _

_ ‘Um well, I need to-’  _

_ ‘Shh! Wait a moment!” _ U cut him off. The older robot leaned his camera around Dum-E to look at Tony, who was underneath a car. He looked back to Dum-E and made a low secretive sound. ‘ _ Let’s go talk about this in the corner of the lab so he doesn’t overhear.’  _

_ ‘Good Idea.’ _

The two robots rolled away, waving to Butterfingers, who was now interested. Tony bopped him on his stand when he didn’t respond to his request for the wrench. “Butter I need that!” He said, pointing to the wrench Butterfingers was holding. The robot snapped out of his watching and gave Tony the wrench. Sadly he had to turn away and help tony while his siblings held a secret meeting in the corner. 

_ ‘Ok. Now tell me what this is about?’  _ U asked when they were far enough away to talk openly. 

_ ‘Father’s day is coming up and I want to get our dad a gift.’ _

_ ‘Why? You never have before?’ _

_ ‘See that’s the thing! With the upgrades Dad gave us, I can now think more, to the point where I want to honor him. I use to not be able to feel that way.’ _

_ ‘Yeah me too. I really love him, but how would we get him a present….’ _

_ ‘I was thinking- uh...you wont like this.’  _ Dum-E looked away. 

U invaded his personal space, forcing him to look back. _ "Tell me, now.’ _

_ ‘Ok.’   _ Dum-E whirled lowly before blurting out  _ 'I want to leave the lab.’ _

_ ‘WHAT!’ _

_ ‘SHH!’ _

The loud commotion of beeps caused Tony to lean out from under the car and stare at them, along with Butterfingers, who was feeling confused and left out. “You guys ok over there?” Tony asked, concerned. The two beeped affirmatives at him. He watched them for a moment, taking in their appearance. The two robots were smushed up in the far corner of the room, standing close together and making low secretive noises at each other.  

If that wasn’t suspicious, he didn’t know what was. He narrowed his eyes at them, before leaning back under the car.

They were up to something. 

Dum-E sagged in relief when Tony went back to work.  _ ‘Well why don't you just invite him over here U! It’ll make him grounding us happen a lot faster.’ _

_ ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it! You want to leave the lab!? We never leave the lab!?’ _

_ ‘I know! But we have to if we want it to be a surprise present!’ _

_ ‘Um NO! We can get Jarvis to order something for him and stay here-’  _

_ ‘What? No, he’ll see that! Not to mention he’ll get a notification the moment we order something for him, with HIS money! I want it to be a present we get him.’  _

_ ‘But how? Leave the lab and look for other things in his home to re-give him? Dum-E that’s dumb! We might as well give him something from here.’  _ He gestured with his camera to the lab.

_ ‘No U! I’m not talking about looking in the tower for a present, I’m talking about leaving the lab AND the tower.’ _

_ ‘HUH?!’ _

“Ok, what’s going on over there?” Tony sat up, giving his bots a stern look. They quickly dispersed, moving to opposite walls as if to pretend nothing was going on. Tony stood up, making Butterfingers slide back. 

_ ‘We’ll talk later!’  _ Dum-E stage whispered at U.

“You two are up to something, hmm?” Tony walked forward towards Dum-E, who made a negative noise. Butterfingers rolled over to U to find out what was going on. When U told him to ask later, the two turned to watch Tony pat Dum-E on the head. “You aren't fooling anybody-”

“Mr. Stark?” Happy Hogan interrupted, entering in the Lab. He paused to observe the weird scene before deciding it was a normal Tony thing and continued on his mission. “Pepper sent me down here to drag you away. You have that Charity thing, remember? You need to get cleaned up now if you're going to make it on time.”

Tony looked at Dum-E another moment before turning to smirk at Happy. “Really, you're pulling the Pepper card on me?”

“I don't know what you’re talking about.” Happy grinned back. 

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. He started walking out of the lab with Happy before turning a look on his robots. “You three...just...don't. Whatever it is, don't.” 

They all beeped affirmative noises at him. Tony smiled and then he was gone. 

The three robots watched him go through the glass wall, waiting a moment before rolling to meet up in the middle of the room.

_ ‘Now, tell me what’s going on, please?’ _

_ ‘Dum-E has a plan you will not believe. He wants to leave the tower!’ _

_ ‘WHAT!’ _

_ ‘Exactly my point. Dum-E it’s a bad plan.’ _

_ ‘No, hear me out!?’ _

_ ‘Is this what you wanted to talk to me about earlier? IN FRONT OF OUR FATHER? How do you think he’d feel if he knew you wanted to leave him-’ _

_ ‘No NOT LEAVE HIM. Get him a gift of love.’  _

Butterfingers turned to U, who nodded a confirmation that that was indeed the reason. ‘ _ Oh.’  _

_ ‘Yes.’ _

_ ‘A… gift…?’  _ Butterfingers asked confusedly.  _ “Why? We’ve never given him a gift before?’ _

_ “For fathers day.”  _ Dum-E announced proudly. Butterfingers started, before turning to U.

_ ‘I know Butterfingers, It’s a completely insane Idea and Dum-E-’ _

_ ‘No… Dum-E is right, I want to get him a gift as well.’ _

U stared dumbly at him, camera trying and failing to focus. ‘ _ What….’ _

_ ‘Yeah. He’s our dad. He does alot for us and we never do anything in return…’ _

_ ‘Not true! We help him out in the lab-’ _

_ ‘It’s not the same U. Dum-E had a good idea...for once.’ _

_ ‘Thank you.’  _ Dum-E beeped pleasantly at Butterfingers.

_ ‘You’re welcome.’ _

If U was human he would have started to hyperventilate.  _ ‘NO! Not a good Idea. BAD IDEA. We know nothing of the city-’ _

_ ‘I’m sure Jarvis will help.’ _

_ ‘We have no money. YOU said earlier you didn’t want to order through Jarvis because it would mean using Dad’s money, and WE WILL NOT STEAL. Dad would be so mad if-’ _

_ ‘No, no, I have that all figure out.’ _

_ ‘Oh? Care to share Dum-E?’ _

_ ‘We’ll get one of the Avengers to help us out!’ _

U looked back and forth between his brothers who were getting excited. 

_ ‘Good Idea!’  _ Butterfingers twirled around excitedly.

_ ‘They can also let us out of here and guide us through the city, so we can find the perfect gift for Dad!’ _

_ ‘Which avenger though?’ _

_ ‘I vote Steve Rogers.’  _ Dum-E wiggled in pure elation. The plan was coming together.

_ “That’s what I was going to say!”  _ Butterfingers and him started chasing each other in a circle- which was the human equivalent of a high-five.  _ ‘Now, how do we get him to come down here?’ _

_ ‘Oh...Um...Haven’t thought of that one yet…’ _

_ ‘Oh! I know, we can start by banging against the glass-’ _

_ ‘ENOUGH!’  _ U yelled at them, raising up to his full height. ‘ _ Have you not thought about the dangers? Of how sad Dad would be if he came back and we weren’t here? What if something happens to us and we never come back? What if Dad finds out we LEFT HIM. No. I don’t want any part of this.’ _

_ ‘But U, Think of Dad!’ _

_ ‘I AM thinking of Dad. You two aren't. If you want to get a present for him so badly, have Jarvis order something so we can stay here! Same benefit without the danger.’ _

_ ‘No. I want it to be from us.’ _

_ ‘It would be if- ‘ _

_ ‘U, Please? It means a lot to me?’  _ Dum-E pleaded.

_ ‘Me too, U. I want Dad to know we love him… don’t you?’  _

_ ‘I-....I would do anything for our dad, But this is just crazy. Three robots out in the city? Do you realize how much attention that would bring on us? People will want to touch us and film us, maybe even...disassemble us… we can’t risk that on Dad.’ _

_ ‘But U, we’ll have Captain America with us!’  _ Butterfingers crowed excitedly.

_ ‘You don’t know that. Mr. Rogers has no way to communicate with us, he won't know what we want.’ _

_ ‘He will, with JARVIS helping us out.’  _

_ ‘What makes you think he’ll even care enough to help us?’  _ U was starting to get anxious. They weren’t listening to reason.

_ ‘Because he cares about Dad!’ _

_ ‘Yes! He does! Butterfingers is right, U. He cares about Dad, so he’ll help us.’  _

_ ‘Won't anything I say stop this madness?’ _

_ ‘No!’ _

_ ‘No.’ _

_ ‘Fine! Do what you want. I’m not going.’ _

U rolled away, leaving Butterfingers and Dum-E beeping after him. 

_ ‘Really! U you’re going to let us go out there….alone..?’ _

U stopped, his head hanging low. 

_ ‘Yeah! We could get into some big trouble without you, U…’ _

U whirled around, Snapping his head up. ‘ _ That was a low trick you two. Very low.’ _

_ ‘Thanks I try.’ _

_ ‘Dum-E! Cut it out. Look U, I know you're scared, but there’s no reason to be. As long as we’re together, it’ll be fine. I’m the oldest, I’ll look out for you.’ _

_ ‘But who’s looking out for you?’ _

_ ‘Why you and Dum-E of course! We’ve always had each other’s backs, even before we had upgrades that allowed us to think like this, back in the very beginning when we could barely even beep to one another, remember?’ _

_ …  _

_ ‘I remember.’ _

_ ‘Then you’re in?’  _ Dum-E rolled up to him, looking hopeful. U sighed, and rolled forward to rest his camera on top of Dum-E’s claws.  

_ ‘I guess. But we’re planning this out, properly.’ _

_ ‘Deal!’ _

_ ‘Agreed!’ _

The three formed a circle- beeps and whirls and boops echoing around the lab as they started to plan.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve was still smiling as he left the kitchen, listening to Natasha and Clint laugh and Thor’s confused voice. It was the start of a good day. He was a little bit sad that Tony couldn’t stick around longer than he had, having to go to a charity and then another event directly after it, which meant he would be gone almost all day. 

Still, the genius had made a funny joke that still had the others rolling and himself smiling, so he was glad he got to see the billionaire before he left.

He sighed contently. It was after breakfast (provided by Bruce) and now it was time to go do his second work out for the day, having ran before breakfast. He liked working out. It took his mind off of everything he had trouble handling, the plus side of it also being he kept himself in shape. It did get kinda lonely sometimes, unless Thor or Clint joined him - sometimes Natasha, but it was stress relieving all the same. 

He was making his way to the fitness center, on one of the bottom floors of the avengers tower. This one was added in after he and the other avengers moved in, seeing as they were superheros and had to work out. Tony also had a fitness center made on Steve’s own personal floor, but he liked this one better. More light, better air. Something about it was relaxing. Plus he could see the man-made garden and river surrounding the tower from the windows, and he liked the view. It was hard to come by plant life in new york city nowadays, cement taking up a lot of the landscape. Tony’s Garden was small, meant to accent the building, but it attracted all different types of butterflies, which Steve liked to sketch during his breaks. 

Steve hummed to himself as he got onto the elevator, happy for some reason. He liked to think it was because him and the other avengers were starting from really close bonds and that was something he cherished a lot. He had Bucky growing up and then Peggy, but other than that, true friendships had been rare for him. Now he had a whole team of friends and it made the whole ‘living in a different century’ thing way easier for him.

He wouldn’t trade them for anything.

He had to admit, he missed Bucky deeply, but he would always have those memories of him. Bucky may not be with him now, but Steve would never forget how much the other meant to him. Just like he would never forget how much the Avengers meant to him.

He nodded to himself, as if confirming it, also sending a small prayer for Bucky. He hoped wherever his friend was, he could hear it. He had to believe they would see each other again one day, be it in heaven or the afterlife. 

The elevator dinged, startling Steve out of his thinking, and he nearly got off it, before noticing it was the wrong floor. 

He frowned and hit the correct floor number, but it didn’t even light up. 

“Uh…” He pressed it again, slightly harder. It still didn’t light up. “Hey Jarvis?”

Steve looked up, a tendency they all had when talking to Jarvis. All except Tony that is. 

“Jarvis?” He asked again, when no answer came. He frowned. That was new. “Jarvis, there’s something wrong with the elevator! It wont move, and it took me to the wrong floor.”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows when no response came again. “Hello?” 

Steve pressed the button one more time, having no success. He looked out onto the floor, becoming scandalized when he realized this was Tony’s private floor. The floor where someone literally had to enter in a secret pass code for the elevator to even recognize its existence. That pass code was something only four people knew. Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, and Tony. 

This was bad. 

Steve felt guilty and backed up into the elevator, not pleased at invading Tony’s privacy. 

“Jarvis?” He called out nervously. “Help!” He re-pressed the button to his desired floor, only for it to remain dead. How had this even happened? 

Steve sighed. Great. What was he supposed to do?

Steve thought hard and came up with the idea to call Rhodey. He could trust Rhodey not to blow this out of proportion and hopefully keep this accident just that - an accident. Rhodey would understand why he was on Tony’s private floor, hopefully.

Steve smiled at his awesome idea and started patting his pockets, looking for his phone. Oh God. No please, no! He closed his eyes in anguish. He left his phone on his nightstand, hadn’t he?

Steve could hit himself. If only he was glued to it like all the young people of today. They carried it with them everywhere.

What was he supposed to do now? He tried the button again, with the same result.

Maybe there was a phone up here? But that would mean going out into Tony’s secret room. 

He was a horrible, awful friend.

Steve swallowed down his guilt as he stepped out of the elevator - not before trying the button one last time. 

He tried to keep his eyes to himself, but curiosity got the better of him. Tony never let anyone in here, despite them all knowing about it. For a whole year the whole team had speculations on just what exactly was in here, even though most of them were too ridiculous (Clint's ideas mostly).

Steve was surprised at how… Tony the place was. 

It had cool lighting, little gadgets everywhere. A spacious couch, underneath black sabbath posters. Tech lit up the room in various colors, humming metallically. Tools were everywhere, and design plans strewn about without his usual caution- a sign that this was a safe space for Tony. It was really mess for anyone who wasn’t Tony, but was probably organized to the genius. It also just had something completely Tony that Steve couldn’t put a finger on, but he didn’t want to dig into it. He was trespassing enough as it was.

The captain of the avengers looked around quickly, hoping to spot a phone. He caught sight of a staircase he hadn’t seen before, arching an eyebrow in surprise. This place took up two floors? He would have never known. Steve shook his head at himself, forcing the impulse to go down it away. 

It wasn’t his business. 

He looked around for a phone again, trying not to go nosing into any of Tony’s stuff. He needed to find a phone soon or else he was going to go crazy-

A loud thud sounded somewhere and Steve jumped, unprepared for it. He whipped around to the stairs, the noise having come up from them. 

“Hello?” he called out, standing up straighter. The thud sounded again, followed quickly by two more. Steve frowned and edged towards the stairs. 

“Who’s down there?” 

The thuds got faster and Steve made his way down the stairs, momentarily forgetting his morals. 

Halfway down the stairwell, the right wall turned into glass and Steve could see into another room. He stopped shortly, before continuing on. He paused in surprise when he saw what was causing the thudding.

Three robots all stood by the glass wall, looking like they were having a great time as two urged one on as it bodily hit the glass and then they rotated, shaking excitedly as the next one took it’’s turn. It rammed itself into the glass, causing the other two to swing their arms around, giving the impression of whooping. They rotated again and Steve was so thoroughly confused. What kind of robots did Tony build in his spare time? Good god. 

Steve couldn’t help but grin as he watched them congratulate each other. 

How strange. 

Maybe they could help him out? 

Steve grew hopeful and hopped down the last few steps, ending up right in front of them. He expected them to freak out, but his appearance made them more happy than they were. They practically bounced at him, smooshing up against the glass. Steve couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Hi!” He waved at them, wondering how Tony came up with these things. He looked closer at them, awed by their sleekness. He stopped for a second, letting out a surprised laugh when he recognized one of them.

“Dum-E!” Steve exclaimed, never before having been this excited to see a robot. “Look at you! Tony sure did clean you up! You look good!” 

The captain had wondered about the little robot once, a long time ago, never seeing it around Tony’s regular lab anymore. He guessed it made sense now. Tony kept them in here. Dum-E whirled at him, though he could barely hear it through the glass. A regular human wouldn’t have been able too. He smiled at the robot and looked to the others. “Butterfingers and...U, right? I’m glad to see you guys. I’m in a bit of a pickle actually. I need help.” 

The three robots carted away along the wall, leaving him standing there. He watched as they turned the corner and stopped in front of the glass door. They waved to him. 

“O...K...” he walked forwards, approaching the door. Before he could even react to their gestures, a voice startled him. 

“Place your hand on the scanner, sir.” Jarvis said, suddenly showing up. 

“Jarvis!” Steve looked up. “I need you! The elevator stopped and-” 

“I know sir. I stopped it.”

“You…” Steve frowned and looked to the three robots, who were zooming back and forth in front of the door, like excited puppies. “Why?” he asked. 

“My brothers have a…. Request to make of you. If you please scan your hand, I can open the door for you. Then we can talk. Please sir.”

Steve crossed his arms. “You know, Tony doesn’t let anyone down here. I’m...upset you would force me to invade his privacy like this.” 

“I didn’t force anything sir. We live down here and my brothers wanted to see you. This place is theirs as much as it is Mr. Stark’s. They have a right to invite you in.” Jarvis insisted.  

Steve looked at the three robots in front of them. He knew they were machines, but Tony loved them like humans nonetheless. If he found out this was something they did, maybe he wouldn’t get so mad at Him. Plus, they all looked very happy to see him, so maybe he should just agree to it. He was stuck in here until Jarvis said otherwise anyways. 

“Ok, But we’re talking about this.” Steve reached forward and scanned his hand, the door sliding open almost immediately. 

“Welcome, Steve Rogers.” A electronic voice said and Steve walked in, Immediately assaulted by two robots, while the third one greeted him with a shake of the hand. 

He laughed at them, shaking the claws back and patting one on the head. 

“Hey!”

They beeped and whirled at him, dragging and pushing him further into the lab. Steve's eyes widened as he looked around, taking in the much more advanced inventions and whatnot. He let out a gasp as he caught sight of a car, clearly being built up from scratch by Tony. 

“Wow!” He walked forward on his own to look at it, before looking away guilty. He shouldn’t even be seeing this. It would be like if Tony looked through his sketch diary. Maybe he should actually let the billionaire do that, to make up for the whole invasion of privacy on his part. He didn’t want to become an Obadiah Stane- the reason Tony was now so cautious about his lab. Pepper had told him that story at least.

“Ok guys, tell me why I’m here.” he said, hoping to leave as soon as possible. Immediately he got a course of electronic noises, all three robots answering his question.

“Whoa, whoa!” Steve cried, placing his hands on them to calm them down. 

“I shall translate for you sir.” Jarvis said, voice soft with affection at his brothers, though no human could hear the fondness in it. 

“Please do!” Steve said, carefully removing his shirt from Butterfingers grasp. He smiled at the robot.

“They need your help, Mr. Rogers.” Jarvis said, wanting to get down to the point. Honestly he hated the plan, but if they were going to go through with it, he was glad they chose Steve. The hesitance he displayed at the elevator cemented his opinion of Steve’s good character in place, making him trustworthy in Jarvis’ eyes. Anyone else would have immediately stepped off and started looking around, looking through Tony’s stuff no problem. Steve only seemed to be looking for a phone, reluctantly at that. He trusted Steve with his brother’s welfare.

“With what?” Steve asked, looking down at them. Maybe he should find a way to contact Tony if it was so bad they had to resort to getting him down here. Tony loved them, that much he knew, and he would want to know if they were in trouble.

“Well, as you know, Mr. Stark has had all of us for quite some time, most of his adult life I’d say. Recently he upgraded my brothers, giving them more functions, a bigger database, other things I won't get into, and as a result they’ve grown much more aware of things that they hadn’t been before. Like the meaning of family.”

“Um…” Steve said, looking around at them. Tony could do all that? Make robots feel things? He could barely work his cell phone.

“As you know, father’s day is coming up and they wanted to get something for Tony.”

Steve smiled, his heart melting just a little. “Aw, really? Cute.” The three robots danced around him and he laughed. 

“They need your assistance finding something for him.”

“Well I’m flattered, but I’m not that great at gift giving, really. Maybe you should ask Pepper.”

“No sir, I didn’t mean it that way. They need someone to accompany them outside of the tower, so they can get a gift for Mr. Stark.”

Steve paused. “Wait, you mean...In the city. You want to go out into the city? Does Tony know? Did he allow this?”

A moment of silence fell upon the group, before the robots lowly whispered at each other, and Steve felt as if they were talking over his head. 

A pause, before Jarvis spoke back up. “Yes sir. Mr. stark knows. He was just busy today and had to postpone taking them into the city himself, so they could pick out a present. The others thought it would be an opportunity to actually surprise him with it, if the went out with someone else today instead. He said if we could talk one of the Avenger into taking us, we could go. Otherwise we would just have to wait on him. Tony’s only rule is that they have to be back before it gets dark. My brothers figured the leader of the Avengers was the safest option, besides Tony that is, so that’s why you’re down here. They wanted to ask you.”

Steve listened, his eyebrow arching up in disbelief. “Are you sure you didn’t just make that up? You guys are Tony’s most valued bots. Why would he let you out into the city? I can see him agreeing to it, If he were with you, but I don’t think he trust anyone else with you guys-”

“Sir, It is not in my programming to lie.” Jarvis lied. “Mr. Stark trusts you enough to stay with Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers. Why else would the door scanner work for you?” JARVIS hacked the system, but Steve was hardly tech savvy enough to know that. 

“Well…” Steve hesitated, looking around at them. It would be pretty hard to program a robot to verbally lie to you on it’s own accord… and why would Tony do that anyways?

Besides they wouldn’t purposely try and get him into trouble with Tony. Right? 

“Ok...But we’re following Tony’s rules. Back before it gets dark and we all have to stay together. No straying from the pack, Dum-E.” The robot whirled at him, bouncing in excitement. Steve laughed and patted him on the head. 

“Right. I guess I need to go change and take a shower before we go. How do you guys get out of here?” Steve said looking around, surely the robots couldn’t make it up the stairs?

“They’ll go through the door with you. Just walk over to it and scan your hand again.” Jarvis answered him. Steve stared at up at the ceiling, briefly having doubts again. “Ok…” 

He walked over it the door and scanned once more, the door opening up with a quiet whoosh. Steve didn’t even get a foot out before two robots zoomed past him.

“Jeez!” He moved out of the way. 

They approached the stairs, stopping at the bottom step. Steve raised an eyebrow and smirked. “No way. You want me to carry you up the stairs? This is not how I thought I’d be spending my saturday, let me tell you.” Steve laughed. He frowned shortly after, once again having doubts about the whole thing. If Tony was going to take them out, would he have carried them up the stairs himself? Each robot looked heavy and were to big for Tony’s height anyways. It just seemed like a flaw Tony would not over look if he were actually going to take them out-

Dum-E beeped loudly, snapping him out of his thoughts. The smallest robot rolled slightly passed him and Steve turned his head to see the him calling out to the one who had yet to leave the lab. It was the one with the camera for a head, and it was paused at the threshold, and Steve could have sworn it looked nervous.

Dum-E and Butterfingers were positively chirping at it, but it seemed to have the opposite effect of what they were wanting because U backed up. Steve furrowed his brow and he tapped Butterfingers on the head. “What’s going on?” He asked. 

Butterfingers turned to him, raising up it’s clawed hand. 

“U is… nervous sir. He’s never been out of the lab before.” Jarvis answered. 

“Oh…” Steve smiled softly. “Hey U, you don’t have to come if you don’t want too. But I swear there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ll be looking out for you, I promise.” 

Dum-E whirled softly and rolled forward, extending his claws. U hesitated just a moment, before reaching out and crossing the threshold. Butterfingers beeped happily, a low electronic purr sounding as he rocked back and forth. U rolled up to them and Steve patted his camera.  

“Nothing to worry about.” 

U stared up at him, before nodding his camera. Steve moved to the stairs, and judged the distance. He turned back to Dum-E and waved him forward. “Come here, Dum-E.”

The robot rolled up to him and without warning Steve lifted him up. Dum-E cried out in what sounded like laughter and Steve grinned as he judged the robot's weight. “I can probably carry two of you at once. Butterfingers, come here please.” 

Butterfingers rolled up, looking excited. Steve hefted him up, grinning when the bigger robot let out a whoop sound. “Ok.” He said and started carefully walking up the stairs, the two robots chatted at each other over his shoulders and he listened to the beeps and whines, wondering what they could mean. U beeped after them, sounding exasperated. How a beep could sound exasperated, he didn’t know. 

After getting all the robots up the flight of stairs and loading them onto the elevator, Steve pressed the button to his floor, having to crane over the jittery robots to reach it. He smiled from his position, pressed up against the back wall in the center, watching the three interact with each other. They made a small circle around him so he was included in the ‘conversation’ and they beeped back and forth to each other, and sometimes at him. 

Jarvis translated somethings to him;

“They want to know how big Manhattan is sir.”

“Dum-E is asking about the population, sir.”

“U would like to know if he can film some scenic shots while you are out.”

Steve answered all the questions as best he could and he was so caught up in the middle of telling them about the empire state building, he didn’t realize someone else had pressed the up button and the elevator stopped.

 

Clint, Thor and Natasha were waiting at the elevator, wanting to go to the gym to get in a sparring session.

“I’m totally going to win.” Clint smirked playfully at Thor.

“No, you're going to  _ try  _ to win, son of Barton.” Thor puffed out his chest, twirling Mjolnir around in a show offish way.

“It’s me and Nat against you thunderbutt. You gonna wish you didn’t agree to this.”

“Now, Lady Natasha beating me would be an honor. You on the other hand…”

“Guys.” Natasha rolled her eyes.

Clint looked back at her and smiled. “Come on Nat, we can take him down. Remember that time we were in Quebec? This will be just like that.” 

Natasha let out a laugh as the elevator door dinged and opened. They all three turned to get on, only to pause at the scene before them.

 

Steve was already on the elevator, in the middle of a bunch of robots, who were all hunched towards him, craning their heads up at him. One of them beeped at him and he laughed. “I think it had 103- maybe 102 stories? I’m not sure. I forget sometimes.”

“It was completed in 1930 I think? I don’t know, you’ll have to ask someone else.” He said, unaware of their presence. “I’m sure we’ll have time to stop by and see it, if you want-”

 

The door slid shut, leaving Nat, Thor, and Clint staring at it.

“What did I just see?” Natasha turned to Clint, who was frowning. 

“I think I just saw Steve with Tony’s robots on the elevator, talking about the empire state building.”  

“Thought so.” Natasha nodded, placing a hand on her hip. 

“We can catch the next one, can we not?” Thor said, looking at them in confusion. 

“Sure.” 

They lapsed into a silence, all wondering what the hell Steve was doing.

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of my twin's prompts, but we both know she's never going to get around to writing it so I asked if I could take a shot at it. Hope it turns out ok <3


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